DHS warned local and state police ahead of deadly Charlottesville violence that it would be worse — prepare now for more violence

In a remarkably prophetic report, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis issued a warning to Virginia State Police and police in Charlottesville three days before the deadly August 12 rioting that violence was likely to escalate to a new level at the pre-planned event.

As reported byPolitico, a “law enforcement sensitive” assessment from DHS intelligence analysts noted that violence during a series of demonstrations leading up to the Charlottesville event had been escalating. The analysis warned that the gathering of “Antifa” anarchists and white supremacists at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville were liable to make that protest “among the most violent to date.”

Politico noted further:

The Aug. 9 report by the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis was done in coordination with local, state and federal authorities at the Virginia Fusion Center. It stated that white supremacists and anti-fascist “Antifa” extremists had clashed twice before in Charlottesville, at a white nationalist rally on May 13 and a Ku Klux Klan gathering July 7. At each event, “anarchist extremists” attacked protesters who had been issued permits, leading to fights, injuries, arrests and at least two felony charges of assault and battery.

In the days and weeks leading up to Charlottesville, DHS analysts were seeing signs of gathering storm clouds, as both sides were clearly gearing up to do battle with one another. “Anarchist extremists and white supremacist extremists online are calling on supporters to be prepared for or to instigate violence at the 12 August rally,” warned the assessment.

Analysts even noted that a “probable” white supremacist had even issued a “call to arms” online, adding that “Antifa must be destroyed.”

One senior law enforcement official not from Virginia told Politico in an interview that DHS “called it.”

The official noted each side was telling supporters, “‘All right everybody, go get your weapons, and we’re gonna kick their a**es.’ And that’s exactly what happened in Charlottesville.”

Three days after the assessment was issued, combatants from both groups — many of them armed — began to assemble at the park, which was renamed from Robert E. Lee Park in June. The “Unite the Right” rally involving some white supremacist groups sought to protest the city’s planned removal of a statue of Lee.

“It is unconscionable that with so much advance notice of the declared intentions of extremist groups from the Left and Right vowing to descend upon Charlottesville that law enforcement was not better prepared,” James Gagliano, a recently retired FBI supervisory agent, told Politico.

“Stronger police presence as a deterrence and better separation between the two groups should have been part of the security plan,” he said, adding that local authorities “were woefully underprepared for something they had advance notice of and plenty of actionable intelligence about.”

What this assessment says, however, has potentially deadly implications far beyond Charlottesville — and its warning that all Americans who are concerned about losing their country should be concerned about.

I can’t count the number of police officer friends who have either retired or have been on the job now for 20-plus years who have told me they’ve never seen the situation so volatile or fragile. Race relations are particularly bad, but that’s not the only thing dividing people. Political divisions are wide and deep as well, and what’s more, these pros and I agree in that we don’t see how these divisions get solved without violence. (Related: Are you fit enough to fight? This e-book will get you into the best shape of your life.)